Randy “Duke” Cunningham: Former Republican congressman pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax-evasion charges and is serving an eight-year, four-month sentence in federal prison in Arizona.

Brent Wilkes: Former defense contractor was convicted of bribing Cunningham and sentenced to 12 years in prison. The court ruled he could be free on bail while awaiting the outcome of his appeal, but he has been unable to come up with the bail amount. He is in prison in Los Angeles.

Thomas Kontogiannis: Financier was sentenced to eight years and one month in prison after pleading guilty to money laundering. He is being held in Massachusetts.

Kyle “Dusty” Foggo: Former CIA official and friend of Wilkes pleaded guilty in September to fraud. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 29.

Online: To read letters submitted to the federal court on Mitchell Wade's behalf, his own letter to the judge, his attorneys' sentencing memorandum and the prosecutors' sentencing memorandum, go to uniontrib.com/more/documents

But when the scheme was exposed, Wade turned his attention elsewhere – to federal prosecutors investigating Cunningham, with whom he willingly cooperated for nearly three years.

Now, Wade's own day of reckoning has arrived. Those two sides of Wade will be balanced when he is sentenced tomorrow in federal court in Washington, D.C., where in February 2006 he pleaded guilty to bribery, election fraud and other charges.

Federal prosecutors are asking U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina to sentence Wade to four years in prison and slap a hefty fine on him.

Wade's lawyers argue that the once-high-flying defense contractor should receive no more than home confinement in light of his extraordinary help to investigators probing congressional corruption.

By the time Wade entered his guilty plea in February 2006, he had helped the investigation of Cunningham to an astonishing degree, court papers say.

In fact, the most memorable piece of evidence against Cunningham – a “bribe menu” listing how much in government contracts could be bought with escalating levels of bribes – was provided by Wade. Government investigators had missed it in searches of Cunningham's residences.

The extent of Wade's cooperation will be weighed against the scope of his criminality – a bribery spree that prosecutors who acknowledge his cooperation describe in court papers as “staggering.”

Wade admitted to giving $1.8 million in bribes to Cunningham. In return, the government said, Wade's defense company, MZM Inc., got $150 million in government contracts between 2002 and 2005.

The sentence also essentially closes the book on the Cunningham scandal, 3½ years after it broke with a story on the front page of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

It detailed how Wade bought Cunningham's home in Del Mar at an inflated price and had benefited from the congressman using his influence to steer defense contracts to MZM.

Two weeks after that June 12, 2005, story appeared, Wade and his lawyers told prosecutors in Washington that he wanted to cooperate, Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Sklamberg wrote in a memo for Wade's hearing.

Wade was apparently as dedicated and zealous in cooperating with prosecutors as he was in bribing and scheming with Cunningham.

Eventually, Wade and his lawyers created a searchable electronic database of 150,000 MZM records detailing his various schemes. His attorneys estimated he spent 6,000 hours cooperating with prosecutors, including 23 meetings and teleconferences.

Wade's help on the Cunningham investigation was crucial. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Forge in San Diego, who prosecuted Cunningham, wrote in a letter to Urbina that Wade's help “transformed” the burgeoning Cunningham probe.

“Though Cunningham's conviction was inevitable,” Forge wrote, “obtaining it could have taken years. Wade enabled us to accomplish it in less than six months.”

Cunningham pleaded guilty before being indicted in November 2005 and is serving eight years in prison.

Wade's work did not stop there. He was the star witness in the trial of Brent Wilkes, a Poway defense contractor who introduced Wade to Cunningham and was indicted on bribery charges and convicted.

Wade's unemotional, even plodding testimony laid out how, while working as a consultant to Wilkes, Wade watched Wilkes lavish gifts on Cunningham and get government contracts in return.

Wilkes was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Wade's lawyers also wrote that Wade assisted prosecutors with probes into five other members of Congress. Those members are not named, and none of the individuals has been charged with a crime, the papers say.

But that assistance should also be taken into account, Wade's lawyers argue.

On the other hand, prosecutors say that no matter how much he may have helped, Wade should be punished for engineering a massive corruption scandal.

“The court's sentence should sharply punish Wade for his conduct but should recognize the quantum of his cooperation,” Sklamberg wrote.

The government is also seeking a substantial fine against Wade. Prosecutors say that despite his woes – he sold MZM after the scandal broke – he is still a wealthy man.

Wade paid a $1 million fine to the Federal Election Commission for making illegal campaign contributions and has spent about $2 million on his defense. But even with his guilty plea, he was not ordered to forfeit any money or assets, as Cunningham was forced to do.

That can be seen as one benefit for those who cooperate, defense lawyers said. Wade's biggest break will be the fact that he was the first one at the door of prosecutors, offering to help.

“Generally speaking, the sooner you go in, the better,” said Raymond Granger, a former federal prosecutor. Granger represented John Michael, a Long Island mortgage broker who played a minor role in the Cunningham scandal. “First in is important. And so is the quality and volume of information you have.”

Even though prosecutors are pressing for a prison term, the fact that they are acknowledging Wade's cooperation publicly also can weigh heavily on the judge's decision, said San Diego criminal defense lawyer Michael Crowley.

Wade could not be reached for comment, and his lawyers declined to comment for this report. He and his second wife are divorcing, and he is described in a sheaf of letters from friends and supporters as a contrite and even broken man.

In his own letter to Urbina, Wade acknowledged his crimes, took responsibility for them and said he has changed.